WARNING:This is a Beta Build. That means it has fixes and features that are NEW. It is also possible it has bugs that are NEW! If you are looking for stability, please don't expect this build to be perfectly stable. It may have issues. If on the other hand you are happy to try this build out and post any bugs back in this thread, then please do!

Major changes to the underlying skinning code to make it more Object oriented, ready for hardware rendering later on

Fix fadebetween not waiting for the frame to be completely visible before changing to the next frame

Fix animation speed so that 10ms is exactly 10ms instead of more like 50-100ms Skins may need to be tweaked as they may play animations faster now.

Fix the way that layer hide/show works so that you don't always need to have layers visible in the skin, that get hidden later.

Cleaned up a few memory leaks to do with Hotkeys and minors lists

Add a slew of string conversions to help with memory management

Fix several animation bugs due to the change with the animation system

Move to a delta based frame update system

Fix some state issues with buttons when when you change focus on and off the window

Fix crash when masks are used. Disabled masking code for now as it wasn't supported anyway

Fix Savestate with new buttons and sliders so that states are correctly restored

Updated Default skin with a new panel as well as smaller size. Tweaked a lot of the graphics.

Add Crash reporting to Xion in order to email back Crash reports, but only for Beta builds

Modify Plugin Interface by implementing a seperate Plugin Version Number and Increasing Plugin Interface version

If you find bugs specifically related to this build, please post them here instead of the Bug reporting forum. Any feedback positive or negative should also go in here, no new threads. This way all feedback, etc related to this build will be in the one place.

ABOUT THIS BUILD:

The skin system has been internally reworked in preparation for Hardware Acceleration and other new features. I've restored all features as far as I know as well as fixed a bunch of bugs that were in the old system. Please let me know if you notice anything that seemed to be working, but isn't now!

Other changes include an integrated Crash Reporter. If Xion crashes, you can now click Submit and I'll get a bug report! Please don't abuse this if you get a repeatable crash. Just email it to me and I'll let you know of its progress.

NOTE: Some animations may appear faster now. Its because I fixed the timing within the skin engine so that 10ms is exactly 10ms instead of more like 50-100ms. This means that some older skins may need tweaking if the animations are now too fast. It also means that some older skins will now look really slick. Actions are now executed faster too, so that on some skins, clicking a button will be almost instant, instead of exhibiting a slight pause. (Torsion comes to mind)

Other new things to notice are an updated Default skin. Its now smaller and features a new sliding control panel that remembers if it was open or closed. Let me know what you think!

Oh, and here's a little present for reading this far: Xion Last.Fm Scrobbler for Beta build 85. Unzip the .dll and place it in the Xion plugins directory, then restart Xion. NOTE: It will only work on Beta build 85, nothing earlier! It may work on later builds but don't count on it. For now its just some candy You'll need the Last.FM client installed in order for it to work, which you can download from the Last.FM website.

Enjoy!

Cliff

Last edited by Cliff Cawley on January 11th, 2008, 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

Can wait to create a new skin. The new default skin is great and the size is perfect. But now something wrong with my old skin "NWD" . Its graphic that represents pause button flickers. I have checked the .psd, I guess it happens when "_over" and "indi_" are put together in one layer name.The same problem also happens to Alas's skin "lissabon2"

lanang jagad Wrote::D Can wait to create a new skin. The new default skin is great and the size is perfect. But now something wrong with my old skin "NWD" . Its graphic that represents pause button flickers. I have checked the .psd, I guess it happens when "_over" and "indi_" are put together in one layer name.The same problem also happens to Alas's skin "lissabon2"

Hmm its possible it is a bug in Xion with the changes i've made. I'll check out what the problem is!

window capture issue sorted Cliff with that latest version, however, still odd skin issues with cycles/buttons showing when not etc...
will need to go over these issues with the psds asap to check if they are supposed to work as intended and where appropriate fix psd or code, I will post either way so that you know if its the skin or could be a code issue once I've gone through some of the issues I have found so far

should also try and get id tag saving/editing working asap too, its not been working for some while now, not sure where that is on your list of priorities

SLoB Wrote:window capture issue sorted Cliff with that latest version, however, still odd skin issues with cycles/buttons showing when not etc...will need to go over these issues with the psds asap to check if they are supposed to work as intended and where appropriate fix psd or code, I will post either way so that you know if its the skin or could be a code issue once I've gone through some of the issues I have found so far

should also try and get id tag saving/editing working asap too, its not been working for some while now, not sure where that is on your list of priorities

Cool, thanks, yeah it will be easier if a couple of people report on the issues on a couple of skins, rather than me going through all them and wasting a lot of time as I may be missing the issues. If you're a skin author, please double check to make sure your skins are working in this build, if not, let me know!

As for tag saving, yes I really want to get it working again soon. Should be ready for the next Beta

best to add it yourself imo, that way you get that functionality in sooner, the only thing is with that tho is people will expect it in every skin but that is not a bad thing, it would appeal to a greater audience as it could be changed to match their desktop themes etc...

it done in the core is the best way to go though without a doubt but if you want it now, put it in, you know it will be a popular feature

Hmm, there are several issues, some of them can be fixed within the skin some not (have to check more detailed).

One thing is definitely a bug to my opinion. In contrast to earlier versions, if there is a button (play or so) above a bigger button (eg button), the button above ´shades´ the function of the one below completely, which means no over- or down-state of the button below works within the area of the button above.
In earlier versions the button above had some kind of ´passthrough´ property without losing it´s own functionality. Tried the work-around: putting a passthrough to the layers of the button above. Also doesn´t work- the button loses it´s function. In earlier versions using such a stack of 2 buttons it was possible to for example define an area of the track window to show an image of the complete set of C-buttons and hide the track window (which improves some skin´s functionality much in my opinion - I use such a setting in almost all of my newer skins). An example to test that bug is Fluss.

Another thing is the new speed of animations. Why not keep the old speed system where 10 ms were 50-100 ms (who cares) and just change the note in the reference chart? We wouldn´t have to change every skin then ) (just my thoughts)

hmm, i think the speed thing should be fixed within skins despite its more work for the skinner and a bit of a pita but its not like there is no source to play with, the psd is the only thing affected.

as a note for the above its a bit of a pita that the speed is now correct heheh, but a bug is a bug and its inevitable that some may creep in from time to time, the thing is though on the current stock of skins that use that speed functionality how do you determine if they should keep the old speed, there is no version number within the psd or xsf, which could have said if 84 skin then do it the old way else use new proper speed

the time will come when we do want the correct speed, esp with some of the ideas we have for some skins where we want to put in a lot of animations and its important that they are not falsely represented

so at this point in time we have skins that worked ok in 82,84 but will not work as intended in the next full release despite the changes under the hood with the xion engine, we got to support Cliff and Xion so that both the skins and Xion work as intended, its a harmony at the moment and near future

well I don´t think the wrong speed was a bug, it was more a consequent error, so the system "ín itself" was ok. Just wanted to mention that my suggstion to keep the old speed system and change the sentence in the reference chart to "delay(x) Delay between each frame(1 = 50ms)" would have some advantages:

1. Older skins still work with higher builds (downward compatibility, very important if possible imo)
2. Users don´t have to check which build the skin was made for originally, istall that build etc. (new users wouldn´t do that, they give up earlier and change to another player)
3. Users who upgrade to a higher build don´t have to wait for the new versions of skins and download them again

Not to be misunderstood, I didn´t mean we authors are too lazy for correcting our skins, I ment for normal users of Xion it could all be too confusing.

ATM I see only 1 disadvantage of my suggestion: faster animations than the ones we used until now aren´t possible, but who of us was unhappy?

i preferred the look to the knight rider moving effect on Amorbous in 82,84, dont like it in 85 now that speed is fixed lol its too jumpy/flashy where as when the speed was borked it was smooth and subtle lol

but yea it will need to be fixed as i intended it

yea the market is saturated with pretty much anything you care to dream up, there are too many media apps out there, this one has got it right tho concerning the skinners, hopefully in time more players will adapt to a more straight from source approach

I reckon Cliff should sell the rendering engine to other media apps lol, he could retire then or might wish to heh